Facts Derail Lying Sharpton's Informant Tale

Former FBI Mafia snitch spins fabricated story of "CI-7" work

APRIL 9--In a desperate effort to explain away his work as a paid government informant,
the Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday claimed that he first ran into the FBI’s
arms after his life was threatened by gangsters, an incident that
prompted him to then record 10 face-to-face encounters with one of those
dangerous hoodlums.

That story is a lie.

In fact, Sharpton’s fabricated tale is belied by FBI records that
provide a clear account of when and

why he began working as a
cooperating informant.
After unveiling his fable at a morning press conference, Sharpton
repeated his claims last night at the close of his “PoliticsNation” show
on MSNBC, where fact checkers and bosses alike do not appear concerned
with the truthfulness of the host’s off- and on-air pronouncements.

By tampering with the chronology of--and motive for--his enlistment as an FBI informant,
Sharpton is furiously attempting to cast that cooperation in the most
favorable light possible. He was not a rat or a snitch, Sharpton
protests. In fact, the reverend contends that he was not even aware the
FBI considered him an informant. The money he was paid by his FBI
handler? Well, that was just reimbursements for carfare, Sharpton
claims. As he explained to MSNBC viewers, Sharpton was just a victim
looking for Uncle Sam’s protection and intervention.

Sharpton contends that he first contacted the FBI in early-1984,
immediately after his life was threatened by Salvatore Pisello, a
wiseguy with music industry connections. As Sharpton tells it, Pisello
was incensed that the activist was threatening to stage boycotts and
demonstrations unless black promoters were given a piece of the upcoming
“Victory Tour” featuring Michael Jackson and his brothers.

At a press conference yesterday at his Harlem headquarters, Sharpton
claimed that Gambino soldier Joseph “Joe Bana” Buonanno set up the
meeting at which Pisello threatened his life. In his autobiography,
Sharpton reported that Pisello traveled from Los Angeles to New York to
threaten him. The book, however, makes no mention of Buonanno, who is
deceased, or his purported role in facilitating Pisello’s alleged death
threat.

Sharpton did not bother to tell reporters how he knew Buonanno in the
first place. Buonanno had been involved in the record industry for
decades, and was business partners with Robert Curington, a convicted
felon who also happened to be a close associate of Sharpton’s (and a
vice

president of the reverend’s not-for-profit National Youth Movement).

Concerned for his safety, Sharpton claims that he called the FBI in
early-1984 and reported the Pisello encounter. In short order, the
reverend began cooperating with federal agents. Spurred by the threat,
Sharpton says he taped a series of ten face-to-face meetings with
Buonanno--but not Pisello, the hoodlum who allegedly threatened the
activist’s life.

Those Sharpton recordings--made with an FBI-issued briefcase
containing a hidden recording device--spanned a three-month period
beginning in April 1984, according to FBI records.

As Sharpton spun out this tale Tuesday, he claimed to have detailed
the Mafia death threat in his 1986 book “Go And Tell Pharaoh.” He
dismissed TSG’s review of this period of his life as “old news” since he had purportedly already written the story himself years ago.

However, while Sharpton’s book does refer to a menacing gangster
named “Sal,” Buonanno does not rate a single mention. Additionally,
Sharpton’s problems with “Sal” appear to have been settled quickly--and
in the activist’s favor, according to the book.

So, if Pisello was the hood who purportedly threatened Sharpton’s
life, why did the FBI direct the reverend to surreptitiously record
Buonanno on 10 separate occasions? Because those recordings had nothing
to do with the alleged Pisello threat, according to several law
enforcement sources. In fact, two investigators said they could recall
no connection between Buonanno and Pisello (who was never charged with
threatening Sharpton).

Sharpton’s story, built on a narrative conflation, is preposterous.
He wants viewers and journalists to believe that the FBI, upon being
told about Pisello’s death threat, sent the reverend out wired to record
another guy. Ten times.

Here is what actually happened:

Sharpton began cooperating with the FBI in mid-1983. So he had
actually been working as a confidential informant for about nine months
before Pisello’s purported threat, an encounter that Sharpton now
falsely claims prompted him to first contact federal agents (and
subsequently begin recording Buonanno).

The reverend was “flipped” by FBI agents three months after he was
filmed in March 1983 (during a bureau sting) talking cocaine with an
undercover agent. On a Thursday afternoon in

June
1983, Sharpton showed up at a Manhattan apartment expecting to meet
again with the undercover agent, who was posing as a former South
American druglord seeking to launder money through boxing promotions.

Instead, Sharpton was confronted by FBI agents who showed him the
“cocaine” videotape. The panicked reverend agreed--on the spot--to
cooperate with federal agents, according to sources familiar with the
contents of Sharpton’s FBI informant file.

At the direction of his FBI handlers, Sharpton initially recorded
conversations with boxing promoter Don King, who was the principal
target of “Crown Royal,” the FBI undercover operation that had ensnared
Sharpton in March 1983.

The date that Sharpton began cooperating is further fixed in a July
1984 draft of a wiretap affidavit. That document, sworn by an FBI agent,
referred to Sharpton as “CI-7,” short for confidential informant #7.
The description of “CI-7” noted that he had been providing information to the bureau for “in excess of one year.”
“CI-7,” the document reported, had made a series of surreptitious
recordings of Buonanno discussing a variety of Mafia business.

Sharpton wants the public to believe that he used his FBI valise to
secretly record a wiseguy---over and over and over again--because
another wiseguy threatened his life. Oh, he has also claimed that these
mafioso were allegedly oppressing black recording artists, too.

So, that being the case, the FBI summaries of Sharpton’s meetings
with Buonanno must be filled with references to threats directed at the
civil rights leader. Surely Sharpton would have asked Buonanno something
like, “Joe, why does your friend Sal want me dead?” Or even, “Joe, when
you

set up that
meeting with Sal, did you know that he was going to threaten to clip
me?” Maybe Sharpton would even take the opportunity to try and extract
details of the mob’s pernicious influence on minority performers.

Strangely, though, the bureau summaries contain no such information.
In fact, they read as if the two men were old friends, amiably
discussing topics like extortion, murder, “made” men, and a guy named
“Chin.” Buonanno even told Sharpton about his eighth-grade education and
his birthday. Somehow Sharpton--who appeared remarkably comfortable
with the wiseguy--was able to hide any signs of duress, despite that
supposed death threat hanging over his processed head.

As TSG reported earlier this week, Sharpton’s involvement with
Buonanno--a supposed facilitator of Mafia death threats--did not cease
after his briefcase was switched off.

In fact, several years later, when Sharpton and Curington were
seeking to collect a six-figure consulting fee owed to them by Joe
Robinson, founder of Sugar Hill Records, “Joe Bana” was one of several
hoodlums who showed up unannounced at the label’s New Jersey office. The
hoodlums threatened Robinson over the money owed to Sharpton and
Curington, whom the Drug Enforcement Administration once termed a “Class
1” narcotics trafficker.

After Robinson complained to police about the mob muscle pressuring
him, a local cop kept an eye out for wiseguys arriving at Sugar Hill’s
headquarters. One day, Detective Edward Stempinski of the Englewood
Police Department caught Buonanno and a Genovese crime family figure at
Sugar Hill. Stempinski, now retired, recalled that the wiseguys “didn’t
look like they should be going into a rapper’s studio.”

So while Sharpton now links Buonanno to Pisello, “Joe Bana” was
apparently an acceptable debt collector even after supposedly helping
expedite a Mafia death threat. Perhaps the reverend consulted the Bible
(Colossians 3:13), which advises, “Bear with each other and forgive one
another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the
Lord forgave you.”

As he closed his “PoliticsNation” show yesterday, Sharpton claimed
that he approached the FBI to “try to protect myself and others,” adding
that, “I was an American citizen with every right to call law
enforcement.” He also declared, “We must live in a country where people
can call law enforcement and not be castigated.” (1 page)

I ain't even read the article (yet. I'll come back to it) but I do believe Sharpton is one dem nicca's that "they" send in to calm the community down when some fucced up racial sh*t happens and it's lookin' like we gone do summin'.

its weird because i could have sworn this was rumored about years ago when it came out about that drug deal he tried to make with an undercover agent. but then again he is confirming it so that makes it different.

I knew that n***er was a sell out Uncle Tom bamboozled negrodrial scum!!

Leaders train their people into being leaders, he ain't taught you one thing except make loud noise that does nothing. Glad, they finally airing out his nasty business, but this is 20 years too late!!!

I knew that n***er was a sell out Uncle Tom bamboozled negrodrial scum!!

Leaders train their people into being leaders, he ain't taught you one thing except make loud noise that does nothing. Glad, they finally airing out his nasty business, but this is 20 years too late!!!

Rev Sharpton place his life on the line for many of the rights we enjoy today . No one is perfect . The man continues to fight for us even during his sickness . I would stand by his side in a heart beat . I respect and love the man .

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot create polls in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum